GIVING CODE: 132112

REGION: Africa

THE NEED: $37,918.00

“Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being.” With these words, economist Amartya Sen sums up the situation for women and girls in Liberia, where high rates of child marriage, abuse, and gender-based violence exist. In Liberia, only 17 percent of girls receive any secondary-level schooling, and customary laws restrict a woman’s right to inherit property, forcing widowed women and their children to leave their homes. In a country that ranks 177 out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to poverty in all its forms, including social, spiritual, and economic.

In response, local churches in Monrovia, Liberia, are creating opportunities for women who are vulnerable and living in poverty to realize their potential. The Empowering Women With Dignity in Liberia project integrates vocational training, skills building workshops, and savings groups. Through the project, churches aim to 1) equip women with skills that enable them to buy what they need for their families and escape the humiliation of dependence on others; 2) help women understand and experience their God-given dignity and value; and 3) connect women to supportive relationships that offer social-emotion support, practical help, and spiritual encouragement.

Vocational training in catering, tailoring, soap-making, and fabric design gives women skills to earn income that enables them to put food on the table and send their children to school. They are also working to form weekly savings groups. Through this model, collective savings build, and groups are able to provide small loans to group members; then at the end of a cycle, each woman is able to cash out her savings along with a portion of the interest paid on the loans.

Through this church-led women’s empowerment project, women in vulnerable situations are able to improve their economic conditions; strengthen their families and communities; and affirm their God-given dignity, value, and capabilities as individuals who are created in God’s image.